Green Bean Casserole

I love casseroles. Crisp toppings covering hot veggies smothered in creamy goodness. Oh yeah.

But unfortunately, the GAPS diet is not casserole friendly. Until now.

I have discovered and made a crisply topped green bean casserole that is smothered in a creamy sauce. Sugar free, dairy free, grain free. Lightbulb!

Green Bean Casserole

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Ingredients:

Onion topping:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

Toasted topping:

1/2 cup ground nut flour (I used almonds, but you could use just about any nut)

Sauce:

2 cups water

2/3 cup pre-soaked cashews

pinch grated nutmeg

Green Bean Filling:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 lb mushrooms, trimmed and slice
1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

16 oz fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half

To make the onion topping, heat oil in a medium skillet over low heat. Add sliced onion and cook, stirring occasionally until very tender and golden, 20-30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread nut meal on a baking sheet and toast, stirring once, until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Set aside

To make the sauce, pour the nuts and water into a blender and blend until very smooth. Stir in a pinch of grated nutmeg. Pour into a medium saucepan, and bring to a low boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When it reaches a boil, immediately reduce heat to low and keep stirring until thick, like a roux. Remove from heat.

In the meantime, heat oil for filling in a large cast - iron skillet over medium heat. Add the small chopped onion and cook until golden, 8 - 10 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and saute until tender, another 5 minutes. Pour the onion and mushroom mixture into the saucepan with the cream sauce, put in salt and pepper, then stir. Lay the beans in the bottom of the now empty cast-iron skillet, and pour the creamy mushroom sauce over top. Spread the cooked onions over top, and cover the entire casserole with the toasted nuts. Bake uncovered in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the beans are tender. Enjoy!

Blueberry Strawberry Popsicles

Its hard to find tasty treats that are healthy. There is nothing better than a cone of icecream, a large freezie or popsicle on a hot summer day. But, if you look at the ingredients of these toothsome treats, you will find that they are loaded with sugar, preservatives, and artificial ingredients.

But does that mean that cool treats are out? Definitely not!

These blueberry strawberry popsicles are a cinch to make, and you can mix it up using whatever kind of fruit you have on hand!

Blueberry - Strawberry Popsicles

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries

3 tbsp honey

coconut water

Thaw the fruit just until they are softened. In a blender blend the blueberries. Add enough coconut water to make the blueberry puree a slushy consistency. Add 1 tbsp honey and mix. Empty the blueberry puree into a separate bowl, rinse out the blender, and blend the strawberries. I found that I did not need to add coconut water to the strawberries: they were moist enough with their own juice. Add 2 tbsp honey and mix. In popsicle molds ( I used flower shaped silicone baking molds for this batch, but you could use just about anything) fill half with the strawberry, then with blueberry purees. Put into the freezer for about 4 hours. I did not have any pospicle sticks, so I cut up skewers. Add them when the popsicles are firm enough to hold the sticks upright. Makes about 8 popsicles, depending on the size of your molds. Enjoy your very own cool and healthy summer treat!

Strawberry - Almond salad

Hi! Welcome to my blog, Fill in the GAPS! If you are new to the GAPS diet, you are probably feeling pretty overwhelmed. If you are an old hand at it, you are looking  for new recipes to add to your limited menu. Today I've got something simple, but surely delicious, and very fitting with the lovely spring weather we are having!

I am not a spinach fan. Many people are not, particularly children. So how do you encourage them to eat these healthy greens? By dressing them up of course. No child is particularly drawn to a plate piled high with green leaves, but this colourful version will attract them to at least try it.

So, I present to you, Strawberry - Almond Salad.

Strawberry - Almond Salad with raspberry vinagrette

Ingredients:

• Well washed spinach leaves
• 3-5 medium sized strawberries (depending on the amount of salad you are making)
• A handful of slivered almonds
• Homemade raspberry dressing (recipe as follows)

Decide on the amount of spinach needed for your family. I usually do enough to 3/4 fill our usual "salad bowl". Trim the stems off the spinach, and rinse thoroughly. Roll them lightly in a paper towel to dry. Put about half of the spinach into your salad bowl. After rinsing the strawberries and cutting off their tops, slice them lengthwise fairly thinly. Before mixing the berries with the spinach, toast a goodly handful of slivered almonds in a small frying pan. Be sure not to let them burn! They will seem to do nothing for a long period of time, then will suddenly begin to brown. Put about a third of the strawberries into the bowl, and mix with the spinach. Add a small amount of almonds.Then add a handful of spinach, then a few berry slices, and some almonds, then another handful of spinach, etc. until all the spinach is in the bowl. Reserve about a strawberry's worth of slices and a few almond slices, to arrange on top. 

Raspberry Vinagrette

• Raspberry vinegar (soak a pint of raspberries in enough rice vinegar to cover for a few weeks, then strain, add about a tablespoon of honey, then store in the refridgerator)
• Olive oil
• More honey, depending on desired sweetness

Choose a clean jar to put your dressing in. Fill the jar just over a quarter of the way with raspberry vinegar, then fill up with olive oil until the bottle is two-thirds full. Add about another tablespoon of honey if desired. Shake, and serve. Because this dressing contains olive oil without binders, it will separate out, and in the fridge, the olive oil will harden. Simply pull the dressing out about half an hour before serving, and shake before pouring over the salad.

And there you go! An easy and delicious salad that is a wonderful addition to your springtime meal! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do! Let me know any suggestions or adaptions that you make for your family.